WIAI Christmas lecture 2025: “Gift Wrapping 101”
At the WIAI faculty's Christmas lecture on December 2, 2025, Prof. Dr. Markus Rickert gave one of the two talks. In “Gift Wrapping 101,” he examined gift wrapping from a scientific perspective.
Following a brief introduction to the history of gift wrapping, Prof. Rickert presented studies on how wrapping affects recipients' expectations and their evaluation of a gift. He also discussed geometric questions, from cutting wrapping paper to reduce material use to arranging equal-sized spheres as compactly as possible.
Sabrina Ehm, Lidia Fargueta Pelufo, and Matthias Schmidt from the group also contributed to the talk. Video recordings showed different manual wrapping techniques and the wrapping of a gift using robot arms. A robot the group had built was also on the presenter's table, wearing a hand-knitted St. Nicholas outfit.